February 3, 2009 CSL Off-Season news (from CSL media release)
THE CSL OFF-SEASON ---- League meets this weekend
2009-02-03
Serbian White Eagles defending CSL champions
Canadian Soccer League teams meet February 7 to discuss the off-season activities that have taken place since Serbian White Eagles won the championship last October 26 and to finalize plans for 2009.
An earlier kickoff date is being considered for the upcoming 2009 season, so that a championship final game at the end of October will give CSL teams a near-six month long campaign, with most games being played during weekends.
Trois-Rivieres Attak, last year’s championship finalists, have been quick off the mark in 2009 with two exhibition games played so far, a 2-0 loss to Montreal Impact on January 17 and a 5-0 victory over the Patriots from the University of Quebec Trois-Riveres on January 25.
The Attak have a new coach after appointing Philippe Eullaffroy to replace Marc Dos Santos who moves to a coaching position with Montreal Impact.
Eullaffroy was previously head coach of of Stade de Reims and Troyes, two professional clubs in France. He holds a UEFA ‘A’ licence and a ‘B’ National licence in Canada and has been with McGill Redmen since 2005 where he was named Coach of the Year from 2006 to 2008. Eullaffroy is holding open tryouts by invitation only, at the Centre sportif Alphonse-Desjardins in Trois-Rivières, on February 21 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.
Portugal FC are seeking players from as far away as South America in an effort to improve their fourth-place standing in the International Division last season and are presently negotiating with Sport Ancash in Peru for the signature of an outstanding Ronaille Calheira Seara. The Toronto west-end CSL team signed several players from Brazil in 2008.
North York Astros are negotiating with a number of players for their return in 2009 and defender Alx Kawalit is the first to sign.
Kawalit last year anchored the defensive line alongside captain and eventual defender of the year Carlos Manuel Zeballos and Astros GM Bruno Ierullo thinks highly of the former Erin Mills player. “Alex (Kawalit) is an experienced player who will play a big role for us in 2009,” said Ierullo at the signing.
The Astros will play their first exhibition game at the Esther Shiner Stadium home ground on April 19, a 5 pm kickoff.
Toronto Croatia are looking to return to Centennial Stadium for some 2009 home games while continuing to use the Hershey Centre mostly for its Reserve Division fixtures.
TFC Academy are expected to be well represented in the Canada Games being held in PEI August 15 to 29. The Ontario Soccer Association has put the club on notice that several TFC Academy players will be selected for the games and the CSL teams will be seeking to avoid that period of the playing season in their schedule.
Dragan Bakoc has been re-elected president of the Serbian White Eagles organization which aims to repeat its CSL championship win of 2008. The team will be playing its home games on Friday nights at Centennial Stadium. The Eagles will celebrate in 2009 the induction of Mike Stojanovic into The Soccer Hall of Fame. Stojanovic, a star striker for Serbian White Eagles in the 70s scored what was believed to be a world record 53 goals in professional soccer in one season. He went on to play for Canada and his later clubs included San Diego and Rochester in the North American Soccer League.
Further league developments and reports of various activities from Brampton Lions, Italia Shooters, London City, St. Catharines Wolves and Windsor Border Stars will be contained in the next release of The CSL Off-Season, to be available mid-February.
The CSL is holding open tryouts on February 20 for players wanting to be assessed by club coaches and further information can be obtained from Brock Robinson of the league office at 905 564-2297 ext 231.
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